Love in an Elevator
by Meriem Clayton
Summary: Spoilerish for Season 9. Dr. Carolyn Lam and Dr. Daniel Jackson are stuck in an elevator together.


This story was written strictly for the purpose of entertainment. No attempt has been made to copyright any characters which may not have been originally created by the author, and no profit is made from this work of fiction. Any original characters and the stories themselves are the property of the author. 

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Dr. Carolyn Lam had her head down, avidly reading the next page in the file folder in her hand. She had no idea who had just entered the elevator and didn't bother to look up, not really caring. Carolyn definitely believed in leaving socializing at home. An arm entered her field of vision as the new passenger reached past her to punch a button. The arm didn't register except as belonging to a man, but it wasn't General Hank Landry's arm, thank God for small favors, and that was all she asked.

The elevator ascended briefly until motion stopped abruptly and Carolyn as thrown against a hard chest. The elevator was plunged into total blackness coincidental to the abrupt stop and she found herself clinging to a handful of BDU belonging to the man who belonged to the arm. She hated the dark and fought back an instinctive whimper. A strong arm encircled her, steadying her, and a voice spoke softly, saying, "There'll be emergency lights in just a moment."

Almost as if he had spoken them into being, the lights came on in the next second. She looked up into the most beautiful blue eyes she had ever seen. The man looked very familiar – she absolutely knew she knew him – but she was drawing a blank and his badge was crushed between them. He smiled slightly and responded to the puzzled expression on her face, "I've been your patient more than most people on this base, Doctor, but I shaved off my beard this morning. Maybe that's got you confused."

Carolyn felt like an idiot. She knew this man very well. As his doctor, she had seen most of his anatomy but she had lacked the imagination to realize just how handsome he was without the beard. "Don't ever grow it back," she blurted out, without thinking and then felt rather embarrassed at the personal comment.  
"One of the ladies who works in the cafeteria is the only one who has ever said anything positive about it," Dr. Daniel Jackson said, ruefully, "so you speak for the general public. I think I had more personal comments from people who rather surprised at themselves for making them about that beard and what a bad idea it was than even about being ascended."

Suddenly they both realized that he hadn't released her and they separated a bit awkwardly. "I guess we should call for help," she said and picked up the phone in the elevator. She was informed that they were working on the problem and expected to have it resolved in a matter of minutes.

Her file had fallen to the floor and there were papers everywhere. He dropped to sit on the elevator floor and began gathering them up for her. She knelt to help him, overreached, lost her balance, and fell on him again. Another time, his strong arms were around her and she was so close to those blue eyes. Sudden images of his bare, beautifully muscled chest came to mind. As a doctor, she saw all sorts of bodies and had long gotten past them registering on her sexually but he was proving to be an exception. Embarrassed at what was running through her mind, she tried to pull away but a lock of her hair had gotten snagged on one of his buttons. He gently reached down and disengaged the hair and then smoothed it back from her face. They stilled, looking at each other and Carolyn found herself having the wild thought, "I want to have this man's babies." The lights went out again and in the blackness this time, she couldn't suppress the little moan. "I hate the dark," she muttered fiercely, as much to herself as to him.

He tightened his grip on her with one arm, pulled her against his chest, and stroked her hair with his other hand once. "It'll be okay," he reassured her.

The blackness continued and seemed infinite to her. She moved even closer to him and said, "This is very strange, isn't it? The emergency lights going out?"

"You should have gotten out of the elevator when I got on," he said, making a feeble attempt at a joke. "Things just seem to happen to me. At least, I don't think there's any chance of my dying, again, in here."

"Not funny," she said, unappreciatively. A strange noise began to grow. A sort of screeching of metal on metal. "Oh my God," she moaned. "What is that?"

"I'm sure it's nothing," he said but he sounded less than convinced. It stopped after a moment and then the elevator seemed to jiggle a little before it settled in an uneasy quiet.

Carolyn then did one of the few impulsive things of her highly disciplined, well planned out life. She touched his face, ran her hand to the back of her neck and pulled him into a kiss. At first he was utterly still, shocked. She continued to give it everything she had, running her hand into his hair. She turned toward him and brought her other hand up to touch his cheek. He opened his mouth a little and she slipped her tongue in. He seemed to come alive at that and his tongue slid over hers and he demonstrated that the passion he brought to his work could be applied to another arena. She was instantly as turned on as she could remember ever being in her entire life and she could feel the evidence that he had responded in kind. The kiss, like the dark, seemed to have no limits or end.

The lights came back on and they broke apart instantly. She saw hot light in the blue eyes so close to her and knew that heat was undoubtedly reflected in her own eyes, flushed face, and parted lips. He was the first to look away and when he looked back, he was clearly feeling awkward. It acted like a dose of cold water and she started to scramble away from him when the elevator jerked a bit before it started to move smoothly. When it jerked, she grabbed him again for just a second but it was gliding to a stop and the doors were starting to open. By the time there was even two inches of separation in the doors, they weren't even touching.

"Sorry about that, sir, ma'am," an enlisted man waiting outside the door said.

"We have NO idea what happened."

"No problem," Daniel said.

Carolyn chimed in, "Nothing at all to worry about."

She and Daniel exited the elevator and found themselves walking in the same direction. They passed an empty conference room and Daniel jerked his head toward the door and requested, "Can I talk to you for a moment?" His words were very professional and prosaic but his eyes held something else.  
She followed him meekly into the room and he shut the door behind her. He stood looking at her, his hands on his hips. "That was a panic kiss, right?"

The easy answer would be yes and she started to say as much but whatever demons had made her kiss him in the first place, prompted her to say, "I'm not sure. It started that way, perhaps, but seconds into it, I wasn't at all afraid."

He smiled then, a glorious smile that transformed his face, and moved closer. He looked away and said, very tentatively, a boyish uncertainty in his voice, "We're both scientists. Wouldn't it make sense to see if the experimental results can be reproduced a second time?" He then winced as if appalled at his words. He raised a hand and made a dismissive gesture. "Forget I said…"

He didn't finish the statement because she had moved closer to him and put fingers to his lips. "I live for science," she breathed and she kissed him again. Moments later, there was conversation outside, coming toward the conference room door and they reluctantly disengaged. The door opened and Hank Landry, trailed by Walter Davis, entered the room. "Dr. Jackson, Dr. Lam, I didn't realize you were in this meeting," he said surprised.

"Actually, sir, they're not," Walter clarified.

Carolyn said, "We were just finishing a quick meeting. We're working on an experimental design but it's proving to be a more complex problem than we initially thought." Daniel bobbed his head and then scratched his neck and looked about to say something that would make it all sound like a made up story. She could just tell he was a lousy liar. "We were both just about to go on to other meetings," she added, meeting Hank's eyes, blandly. He had never been able to read her for which she was devoutly grateful now.

They exited the conference room and Daniel said, hopefully, "So, do you want to talk further about the experiment?"

"I think that would be an excellent idea, doctor," she said. "We didn't really totally recreate the original conditions and can't be completely sure yet that the results are reproducible. Call me when you get back to your lab."

They went their separate ways then, dedicated to science and wherever it might take them.


End file.
